Despite the fact that we all live in the same world, we all have distinct perspectives on things. What is true for one person may not be true for another, and the prospect of never knowing what the ultimate truth is terrifying. If that was not scary enough, we now have a character who intentionally searches for methods to manipulate reality in order to increase the threat.
James Jasper was first established in the Marvel Super-Heroes comics by Alan Moore. James Jaspers is an overlooked character with a lot of promise if he were only featured in more narratives. He is a super-powerful creation who can wreak havoc in the blink of an eye. Let us take a look at his beginnings.
How did he turn out like this?
Mad Jim Jaspers’ first appearances were in the Marvel Super-Heroes, wherein he is initially introduced as a member of a parliament in London on Earth-238. Jaspers campaigns against superheroes and tries to pass laws that would get rid of them. Soon after, we learn that he is himself a supernatural being himself, and was just using his power to pass laws that can reduce his competition. He possesses the ability to distort reality, and create or destroy things within reality.
Overcome with his ambition to get rid of all superheroes on Earth-238, Jaspers created Fury, a highly flexible robot designed to eliminate all superheroes except Jaspers. Fury went into quite a rage, and it just took this robot two years to wipe out all the superheroes from this planet. The only superhero to have escaped, ‘Captain Britain’ was the force that kept the Fury going, as it was determined to wipe off all superheroes.
Meanwhile, Jaspers found himself unmatched in power and adopted the persona of ‘Mad Jim Jaspers’. This persona was inspired by Mad Hatters from Alice in Wonderland, who is known for his madness. With no superheroes to fight him, Jaspers went rogue with his ‘Crazy Gang’ and used his powers to create chaos all over the country. Earth-238 became his playground and with no one to control him, Jaspers began losing his sanity due to the constant reality-warping.
The lack of superheroes did not go unnoticed by the Dimensional Developmental Court, and Saturnyne had arrived on Earth-238 to look into the matter. They assumed that the superheroes had just not evolved on Earth-238, and were unaware of the reality. They decided to give a ‘Push’, and artificially boost up the evolutionary process.
However, this further enraged Jaspers who was already on the brink of insanity. He ended up creating the ‘Jasper’s Warp’, a force that constantly kept distorting reality to match what he assumes to be the right move for the Earth-238. He appears in a massive flying teapot, and explains his actions and the creation of the ‘Jasper’s Warp’.
Petrified by the ongoings on this earth, Saturnyne returns back while the Fury finally gets ahold of Captain Britain. Jaspers uses his powers to show him the graveyard of superheroes that he has created and twists reality to show Captain Britain his own death. Finally, this superhero ended up dying at the Fury’s hands; but was later revived by Merlyn and trained to fight the Jaspers of Earth-616.
While this mayhem continues, the Omniversal Majetrix, Mondragon authorizes the total devastation of Earth-238 in order to control Jasper’s powers and make sure he doesn’t affect the workings of the rest of the multiverse. This finally brings his reign on Earth-238 to an end, and Jaspers of 238 ceases to exist. However, this Jasper is considered a precursor to the more powerful Jasper of Earth-616 which is more widely known.
Where does Mad Jim Jaspers stand compared to the other Marvel characters?
Mad Jim Jaspers is capable of causing the destruction of entire planets, and his powers know no bounds. So, just a regular superhero can be no match for this entity and we need to bring out the big guns. Though nothing is established, cosmic entities such as the Living Tribunal, The Beyonder, or Scathan the Approver would easily manage to deal with him.
The only definite way to defeat him is by taking him away from matter and life, to avoid where he cannot warp reality; or by figuring out a way to work around his powers. Attempting to overpower him would not be of much use, since he relies on using others’ powers as a weapon. Of course, a simple way to destroy him would be by obtaining the ‘Reality Gem’, but it is still no easy feat for many Marvel Characters!
One of his best comic book narratives
After the eradication of the Jaspers of Earth-238, a new Jim Jaspers appears in the Daredevils #7, which was released in 1983. This Jaspers resides on Earth-616, and his most magnificent creation, the Fury, also makes an appearance in these comics. It appears that the Fury has mutated into a more powerful being who can travel across dimensions and sense the presence of superheroes across the entire multiverse. It senses that Brian Burdock [or Captain Britain] is still alive, and follows him to Earth-616 to wipe off his existence once and for all.
Meanwhile, Captain Britain returns to his normal state after hibernation to find that the events of Earth-238 are repeating on Earth-616 too. He learns that Jaspers is conducting an anti-superhero crusade across England, and has subsequently gotten elected as Prime Minister. The Jasper’s Warp soon follows, and Earth-616 finds itself in the same state of constantly altering realities as 238. Jasper even orders the crime lord Vixen to prepare S.T.R.I.K.E. to wipe out all superheroes soon.
In the meantime, his Warp continues to spread, leading to the creation of ‘Warpies’. The Warping were mutations of the Uk’s population resulting from the unstable energies caused by constant reality distortion. Captain Britain takes it upon himself to meet Jaspers and put an end to this menace and visits him at his office. He finds the office to have transformed completely, and Jaspers has turned a tiny space into a vast universe. Jaspers towers over him and views Captain Britain as a plaything that he can torture using false memories over and over again.
In the meantime, The Fury detected Jaspers’ presence and with its advanced knowledge, it realized that this Jaspers is a different version of the 238 Jasper. Determined to kill any and every superhero, The Fury sets off to attack him. He tries to vaporize Jaspers, but it does not have any effect.
After a series of pointless attempts to destroy him, The Fury finally teleports the two of them to the void that used to be Earth-238. Since there was no matter here, Jaspers is left powerless and is finally defeated. In the end, the Fury comes face to face with the last standing superhero from Earth-238, Captain Britain, and meets his end.
Though Jaspers has been destroyed, he does have the ability to revive himself and he does appear in a scene later as a prosecutor in an anti-mutant trial. However, this could be just an aftereffect of the incessant reality bends.
Definitive evidence from the Scarlett Witch’s ‘House of M’ story arc does suggest that her reality-warp caused both Jaspers and Fury to be revived later on Earth-616. Only this time, they have been resurrected as a single being. Their revival causes chaos in the universes once again and Roma, guardian of the Omniverse sends her troops ‘Captain Britain Corps’ to get rid of them.
However, with increasing power, Jasper turns these Corps into copies of the Fury, creating an entire army. Over the years, the Fury within his body asserts more and more dominance, and they once again end up fighting within the body. Taking advantage of this, ‘Blink’, a member of the Exiles, uses her teleportation abilities to destroy Jaspers one final time.
What are his real powers?
Jaspers had an incredible ability to warp reality and bend the laws of physics. The extent of his powers makes him untouchable, and he can be considered omnipotent. Not only does he command super strength and speed, but he can also transform himself or things around him, play around with the size and shape of objects in his vicinity and even manipulate energy. His body is quite resilient and can endure any form of physical attack and injuries.
The Fury created by Jasper shares his intelligence and strength, along with the added advantage of being immune to his reality-warping powers. In terms of various versions, the Jasper from Earth-616 is considered the superior version with more strength and durability. However, both Jaspers need a medium to channel their powers; and can be undermined quite easily in the absence of a medium.
Jasper also has the ability to teleport, though it is unclear if this is just a side advantage of reality-warping powers. At the end of the day, there is not much that he cannot do; and Jasper is considered a genius, even if he wreaks chaos with his powers.
Why is he too strong for the Marvel cinematic universe?
Mad Jim Jaspers’ powers go beyond one’s imagination, and he really can be considered as a deity, a higher order being. As if this isn’t enough, Jasper also has the aid of his robotic creation ‘Fury’ that detects one’s powers and weaponizes them.
Jaspers’ powers do not limit to just altering reality, but even controlling it and bending it at his will. During one incident, when Captain Britain visits Jaspers in his office on Earth-616, we see that Jaspers has manipulated a tiny office into an endless mass of space quite exponential to the actual space.
Jaspers’ powers are of such force that they send huge shockwaves not only on his resident planet but also on the entire multiverse. These powers are also behind the destruction of Earth-238, and we don’t know the full extent of the horrors je can unleash. Introducing him in the MCU will prove to be quite a challenge, since his powers are beyond one’s imagination, and there is no conceivable way to fight him off with solely just strength.
Conclusion
To sum it up, James Jaspers is a true powerhouse of a character. With his limitless ability to warp reality, he is a tough opponent to go against, and defeating him is no measly task. His presence will be a total game-changer in the movies, if only he is included in more storylines!